


Cinderella

by thatsoccercoach



Series: Which Door? [65]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Family Fluff, Growing Up, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 04:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16360778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsoccercoach/pseuds/thatsoccercoach
Summary: Jamie is distracted by bills, dishes, and laundry when his wee "princesses" come to ask if he'll dance with them at the ball.





	Cinderella

                                                               

The bairns were quiet. It was a rare occurrence. Since Claire had gone back to school to become a doctor, things had been more of a challenge at home. She was in a good program, it was local, they respected (as much as possible) that she was raising a family and wasn’t just a full-time student. But things were a challenge.

He looked at the papers spread on the table. A few bills that he hadn’t set up online. He should pull out the laptop while things were still calm and fill out the info for auto-pay. He rubbed his hands over his face. Things were stable for them financially, it was just that he’d rather spend this time doing something else.

Willa and Fergus hadn’t been napping long at all lately, waking each other up with their noises. Faith and Brianna were playing together. Music floated in from the other room and he could only imagine what they were up to with their silly giggles reaching his ears as well. He smiled.

Then he stood up to grab the laptop. Next would be the laundry, then the dishes. If he stayed focused he could have it all done by the time Claire got home. Maybe he’d even have time to check the news or read.

“Da?” a curly head poked around the corner followed by another. Two princesses entered the room.

“Can you dance with us? We’re going to the ball!” Faith clapped her hands together in glee and Bree, in addition to her poofy dress (one that Faith had outgrown only recently) wore an eager look.

He looked at the pile of papers on the table, the dishes in the sink. He thought of the laundry and his hopes for a moment of peace. Then he remembered the song Claire had played for him the night before, slipping one earbud into his ear when she came up behind him wiping down the counter after dinner. She’d wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her head against his back, swaying to the tune they could each hear until he turned around to dance with her properly.

> _She spins and she sways to whatever song plays_  
> 
> _Without a care in the world_
> 
> _And I’m sitting here wearing the weight of the world on my shoulders_
> 
> _It’s been a long day and there’s still work to do_
> 
> _She’s pulling at me saying “Dad I need you_
> 
> _There’s a ball at the castle and I’ve been invited_
> 
> _And I need to practice my dancin’_
> 
> _Oh please, Daddy, please!”_

“Aye, let me put this in order and I’ll come dance wi’ you both,” he smiled.

He’d thought, once, that he knew what it would feel like to be someone’s da. His imaginings had fallen woefully short of reality. Even when he talked with his wife, when she spoke of being a mother, there were things he couldn’t explain. _I dinna have the words for my love for ye, lasses_ he pondered. _But ‘tis powerful._

Wee Bree, their whirlwind, destined to take the world by storm. _The lass has learned to use her forceful ways to speak up for those around her instead of to push her own agenda,_ he chuckled to himself. At nursery school one of her teachers had commented recently that Brianna always stood up for what was right. She spoke up for children who were too shy to do so themselves. She had a bright future and he was proud as could be of their lass.

> _She says he’s a nice guy and I’d be impressed_
> 
> _She wants to know if I approve of the dress_
> 
> _She says, “Dad, the prom is just one week away_
> 
> _And I need to practice my dancin’_
> 
> _Oh please, Daddy, please!”_

And the time! Time passed differently when you were watching a child grow from infancy into… _what was it that Faith was now?_ No longer a baby or a toddler, she had grown so much emotionally when Willa and Fergus had joined their family. Everyone who knew her laughed about the way that she was a miniature Claire, a miniature adult, but she’d grown in the way she loved as well. Though she was just a child, he caught glimpses of the future sometimes when he looked at her.

> _But she came home today with a ring on her hand_
> 
> _Just glowing and telling us all they had planned_
> 
> _She says, “Dad, the wedding’s still six months away_
> 
> _But I need to practice my dancin’_
> 
> _Oh please, Daddy, please!”_

“Och, ‘tis the princesses, here to dance wi’ me!” He paraded into the room with a blanket wrapped around his broad shoulders in cape-like fashion to the utter joy of his oldest daughters.

“Look, Faith! ‘Tis the king!” Brianna laughed and bounced on her toes.

“Come dance wi’ us, Da!” Faith said again.

“But which princess shall have the first dance?” he puzzled aloud, allowing his girls the chance to figure out how the ball would progress.

“Silly Da!” shrieked Bree.

“We already figured it out,” Faith told him. “The king is strong enough, he’ll hold both of us!”

_My bairns. My wee lasses. Our heritage._

He knelt and reached his arms out wide, taking Faith in one and Brianna in the other. They settled their heads on his shoulders. And they danced.

> _So I will dance with Cinderella_
> 
> _While she is here in my arms_
> 
> _‘Cause I know something the prince never knew_
> 
> _Oh I will dance with Cinderella_
> 
> _I don’t want to miss even one song_
> 
> _'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight_
> 
> _And she’ll be gone_

**Author's Note:**

> The song in this fic is Steven Curtis Chapman’s Cinderella. He wrote it after struggling to put his young daughters to bed after a difficult day. He remembered his oldest daughter, in her twenties at that point, and thought of how fleeting those moments were. It was only a few months later that the Chapman’s youngest daughter, Maria Sue, died in a tragic accident. There was a time where Steven Curtis Chapman didn’t sing Cinderella while on tour but he realized his daughter would have wanted him to sing it again. 
> 
> I attended a concert the first time he brought the song back and I’ll never forget it.


End file.
